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Welcome to the Daily Blade. The Word of God is described as the sword of the Spirit, the primary spiritual weapon in the Christian's armor against the forces of evil. Your hosts are Joby Martin and Kyle Thompson, and they stand ready to equip men for the fight. Let's sharpen up.

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All right, welcome back to day two in John Chadbury 11. Today, what we're gonna talk about is God's timing. Have you ever noticed that God's timing and our timing are not the same? We'll pick it up in John 11, 5.

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The Bible says now, jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So and if you didn't read the rest of the text you would think it might say something like so he did what they asked him to do, or so he immediately dropped all that he was about and came rushing to answer their requests. Or so, from a long way off, he cast the spell, or he did what Jesus did to make sure that Lazarus was okay. But that's not what he does. You see, god's ways and plans are always higher and better than our ways and plans. And when we ask God, why didn't you answer my prayer? Well, quite honestly, if you knew all that God knew and had the same pure motivations as God, then you would do exactly what God does. And so now, jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was and then, after he had said to the disciples let us go to Judea again. The disciples said to him Rabbi, the Jews were now just seeking to stone you. And are you going there again? And Jesus answered are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world, but if anyone walks in the night he stumbles because the light is not in him. I don't think they understand what that means. It's very complicated kind of sentence here. I think what he's saying Jesus is saying I've got work to do and I'm not going to let the darkness stop me. I am the light of the world, so let's go get to work.

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Verse 11,. And after saying these things, he said to them our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him. And the disciples said to him Lord, if he has fallen asleep he will recover. Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. You see, the reality is we're gonna see this a couple of times in this passage the reality is is that Christians don't die Now.

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Our bodies cease to work for sure, and physically the thing that, like our flesh, is going to die one day. But eternally speaking, everybody lives forever somewhere, and the Christian's life of eternity begins the moment that we surrender our lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. So what the New Testament will call what we call death, it will call it sleeping or have fallen asleep, because we don't actually die, we don't cease to exist, our bodies will stop, and even then, one day, at the return of Christ, we will be reunited with our glorified and resurrected bodies. And so everybody spends forever somewhere, and so the person that knows Jesus Christ is their Lord and Savior. The last time you breathe here on earth, the next time you inhale, you are face to face in the presence of the almighty God, forever and ever and amen, verse 14,.

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And then Jesus told them plainly Lazarus has died, and for your sake, I am glad that I was not there so that you may believe, but let us go to him. And so Thomas, called the twin, said to his fellow disciples let us also go that we may die with him. It's kind of a bummer that he gets the name Doubting Thomas for the one moment where he says God, if you really Jesus have, you really have resurrected. I got to see it with my own eyes and touch it with my hands, and so that's why he's called Doubting Thomas, even though here he's like the bravest one. Now here's what I want you to understand. What Jesus makes perfectly clear here is there is nothing over my head, there is nothing out of my hands. That I have never been surprised.

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You see too many people pray to Jesus as if he plays second field or drives an ambulance. That's not how it works, that. He has been in control of all things from the very beginning until now. He is in control and he can be trusted. And so if you wonder if God loves you, don't look around at your circumstances.

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Ultimately, the place that we look to is the cross, because if you were standing at the foot of the cross on the day that Jesus was crucified, especially not knowing what was going to happen three days later, you may have a tendency to look to God and say God, what are you doing?

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If you really love me, you wouldn't let your son die. Have you completely lost control? And God would rightly respond I haven't lost control. I'm redeeming the world. Just give me a minute. You see, god's ways are not our ways. They are higher, they are perfect, they are to his glory and he can be trusted. If you don't believe me if you don't feel that in this very moment, don't look around at your circumstances, but look at the cross. And one day, if you were in Christ, the moment you step into eternity and now we see in part but look at the cross. And one day, if you were in Christ, the moment you step into eternity and now we see in part, but then we will see clearly and fully then you will give glory to God and realize that he's always done the right thing at the right time for his glory and your joy, and he can be trusted, amen.

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Thank you for listening to today's episode Before you go. If you want to help equip other men for the fight, share this podcast around and leave us a five-star rating and review. Stay sharp.